Isro preps for Gisat-1A launch, sat expected to reach spaceport soon
BENGALURU: Four-and-a-half years after an anomaly in the cryogenic upper stage (CUS) of the GSLV-F10 mission cost India the Geo Imaging Satellite (Gisat-1) or EOS-03, Isro is geared up to launch Gisat-1A or EOS-05, as its replacement. Gisat-1A, designed to provide near real-time images of large “areas of region of interest” at frequent intervals just as Gisat-1, holds the potential of aiding the country’s armed forces to plan operations, although it is primarily a civilian satellite.The 2.2-tonne class satellite is expected to boost India’s abilities by providing observation of the sub-continent under cloud-free conditions. It will provide spectral signatures for agriculture, forestry, mineralogy, disaster warning, cloud properties, snow, glaciers and oceanography. The satellite, multiple sources confirmed to TOI, has completed key milestones at the UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) in Bengaluru and is ready to move to Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), the spaceport in Sriharikota, possibly this week. V Narayanan, chairman, Isro, told TOI: “We are reviewing the satellite”, and did not elaborate on details. The satellite will move to the spaceport once the final authorisation is given after the chairman’s review. Isro has been carrying out stringent reviews ahead of the mission, especially in the backdrop of two back-to-back PSLV failures that cost India two strategic satellites — PSLV-C61 cost EOS-09 or Risat-1B, a radar imaging satellite critical for strategic surveillance, while the PSLV-C62 cost DRDO’s Anvesha or EOS-N1 — and given that the previous attempt to launch Gisat had failed in 2021. The space agency has already issued a Notice To Airmen (Notam), which is mandatory for any launch, with a window of Feb 20 to March 5. Notam for the GSLV-F17 mission, which will launch Gisat-1A, as with any space launch, is indicative and could be changed. The GLSV last launched the Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (Nisar) satellite on July 30, 2025 as part of the GSLV-F16 mission. After the Aug 12, 2021 CUS anomaly that caused the GSLV-F10 mission to fail, costing the Gisat-1, GSLV launch vehicles have had four successful missions. Before the CUS failure on Aug 12, 2021, Isro had called off the Gisat-1 launch twice. The first launch was scheduled for March 5, 2020, but scrubbed minutes before the 26-hour countdown was to begin on March 4, 2020. And then, Isro again planned to launch in the first quarter of 2021, but that didn’t happen owing to a voltage issue that scientists had described as a “minor power problem”. When the launch finally happened on Aug 12, 2021, the liftoff happened at 5.43am as scheduled. Performance of the first and second stages was normal. However, CUS ignition did not happen due to a technical anomaly.
